CHICAGO (CBS) — The FBI on Wednesday was asking for help in finding potential victims and information about two truck drivers – one of them from Chicago – who are accused of kidnapping women and demanding ransom for their release.
They also tried to make the women work as prostitutes, a charging document said.
Brian Summerson, 25, and Pierre Washington, 35, have both been arrested in the case and have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Memphis, Tennessee.
Summerson, of Dillon, South Carolina, was arrested in Daytona Beach, Florida on charges of battery causing bodily harm, false imprisonment, and tampering with a witness calling 911. Summerson is an over-the-road trucker with a primary route on Interstate 95 from New Jersey to Miami, but who also travels to Chicago and to Kansas City, Missouri.
He claims his name is Von or Vaughn when meeting victims, the FBI said.
Washington is from Chicago and was arrested in the city in March by the FBI. He owns a trucking company called God Got Me LLC and is also an over-the-road trucker with an unknown route, the FBI said.
A grand jury indictment handed down March 25 said Summerson held women against their will, physically assaulting them and sometimes transporting across state lines as he coerced them to work as prostitutes under Washington.
If a woman would not work as a prostitute, Summerson would try to extort money for her return, using the phone or the internet to make ransom demands, the indictment said.
The FBI is still investigating, and said its investigation has revealed photos, videos, and texts of additional women on Summerson’s electronic devices and accounts.
Anyone with information on the case, or who may be a victim or may have been affected by the crimes is asked to email truckervictims@fbi.gov so an investigator can contact them.